Company Launches
Literary managers Britton Rizzio, Noah Rosen and Greg Shephard have left Circle of Confusion to create their own management and production firm, Writ Large.
The production company behind Hatfield & McCoys and the upcoming Texas Rising, Thinkfactory Media, has launched Incufactory, a new incubator division headed by EVP Adam Reed. It will offer pod deals to select established and developing executive producers and showrunners.
Studios, Networks, Conglomerates
Sony Pictures Entertainment named Oscar nominee Kristine Belson as President, Sony Pictures Animation after Michelle Raimo Kouyate’s departure from the post. Belson comes from DreamWorks Animation where she spent almost 10 years, serving as exec producer on the studio’s Oscar-nominated titles The Croods and How to Train Your Dragon.
Film
Former New Line Cinema exec Dana Belcastro has moved to Alcon Entertainment as the company's executive vice president of physical production. She held the same post at New Line for nearly a decade, overseeing the production of 30 feature films, including Little Children, Hair Spray, About Schmidt and the Final Destination franchise.
Television
Craig Ferguson and his production company, Green Mountain West, have inked a multi-year overall television agreement with Lionsgate. Ferguson will develop and produce scripted and unscripted programming, working with Green Mountain's president Phil Cottone and former The Late Late Show producer Michael Naidus.
Bruce Lefkowitz has been named executive vice president of advertising sales of Fox Networks Group, and will serve as the number-two to Toby Byrne. Former Ryan Seacrest Prods. CEO Adam Sher has joined ITV Studios-owned production company Leftfield Entertainment as Chief Creative Officer. It’s a new position, and Sher will operate across the Leftfield group, which includes flagship Leftfield Pictures (Pawn Stars), Sirens Media (Real Housewives of New Jersey), Loud TV (Tiny House Nation) and Outpost Entertainment (PBS' Icons).
Paul Pastor has been named EVP Network Strategy, Revenue and Operations for the Discovery Channel. Pastor previously served as SVP Strategy and Consumer Analytics for the Disney/ABC Television Group at Disney.